730 Farms with tractors: 28 Number of tractors: 69 São Simão is officially a port on the Paranaíba River, and is a major link on the Hidrovia Paranaíba-Tieté, Paraná, which is a waterway connecting these rivers to the port of Santos. There are warehouses both private and public for storing grains (mainly soybeans), which are transported in ships thousands of kilometers to the sea. Health and education There were 10 schools (2006)and 01 hospital with 27 beds (2007). Adult literacy rate: 85.1% (2000) (national average was 86.4%) Infant mortality rate: 28.90 (2000) (national average was 33.0) Municipal Human Development Index: 0.754 Tourism Tourism is also very important with the huge São Simão lake nearby. The reservoir (674 km2 and 12,5 billion cubic meters of volume) is used for fishing, swimming, and nautical sports. One of the greatest tourist points of the region is the artificial beach on the banks of this reservoir, twice the size of Guanabara Bay, and formed by the building of the São Simão Dam. The beach is called Praia do Lago Azul and has one kilometer of beach with bars, showers, bike path, track, bathrooms, a camping area, and tropical vegetation. São Simão is famous for its carnival celebration attracting major performers from around the country and thousands of tourists. The hotel infrastructure is quite large for such a small city with 18 hotels and one large campground on the shore of the lake. The gastronomic offering is also varied with 15 restaurants. One of the most spectacular attractions is the Hydroelectric Plant of São Simão, located on the Paranaíba River. It began operating in 1978 with 1,710,000 MW of installed power with 6 generators. The dam is 3,600 meters long and 127 meters high and the useful volume of the reservoir is approximately 5,540 billion m³. According to the concession given by ANEEL, this reservoir can operate between the level of 390.5 m, denominated the minimum operating level, and 401 m, denominated the maximum operating level. History The history of the city is connected to the construction of the São Simão dam and power station. Before 1930 the region was almost uninhabited. A small settlement appeared on the banks of the Paranaíba inhabited by diamond miners and fishermen. In 1935 a bridge was built connecting the states of Goiás and Minas Gerais and the town began to prosper. The population was already about 7,000. In